The Yankees utility players, Ronald
Torreyes (0.3 WAR), Tyler Wade (-0.1 WAR) and Neil Walker (-0.1 WAR) had a
combined WAR of .1 in 2018, and while they are all serviceable as utility
players or as players off the bench, this is an area where the Yankees could use
an upgrade in 2019.

With the Yankees tragic number at one, the Bombers need a lot of help from the Houston Astros to have any hope of forcing a tiebreaker game with Boston for the division. In a beautiful day game in the Bronx, the Blue Jays came to the stadium to face Masahiro Tanaka and the Bombers. Tanaka started off as superb as could be, and the offense did enough to complete a 4-0 shutout.

@Yankees Twitter

The Yankees started off hot as Tanaka retired the side with three straight strikeouts. The bats followed suit, after an Aaron Hicks flyout to start the game, a Jacoby Ellsbury single and an Aaron Judge walk put a runner in scoring position with one out. The cleanup hitter Didi Gregorius fought back from a 0-2 count to muscle off an inside curveball over the second baseman’s head to load the bases with one out. With Starlin Castro up to bat, the Bombers looked primed to clear some bases. However, they would settle with a RBI infield single from Castro.

As the players have said during the year, it’s all about passing the baton to the next guy so he can produce, and Greg Bird would do just that, hitting a sac fly to deep centerfield to put the Yankees up 2-0. Chase Headley looked to extend this lead with two outs and runners on the corners but struck out to end the inning.

The defensive success continued into the second, as Castro made an excellent dive to get Michael Saunders on a groundball for the second out. Tanaka struck out the last Blue Jay batter Ezequiel Carrera to end the inning to retire the side once again.

Tanaka continued his great start to the top of the fourth, striking out eight out of the first eleven batters faced. The righty's best pitch was his trademark splitter, something that the bodes well for the Yankees heading into October.

Tanaka was perfect through 5 2/3 innings until Ezequiel Carrera hit a soft grounder up the gap for the first hit of the game for Toronto, Castro couldn’t make the play despite an extraordinary diving save. After a stolen base by Carrera, the righty starter beautifully executed a pickoff play with Didi Gregorius to end the inning.

The Bomber bats were quiet since the first inning, only Greg Bird recording a hit since then, but the Yankees would strike again in the fifth. After Aaron Hicks reached on a fielders choice, the left fielder would steal second, bringing up Ellsbury. The lefty Ellsbury would line out to first for the second out, bringing up Judge. The MVP candidate added another RBI to his stellar rookie year with a single to left field but would get caught trying to return to first to end the inning.

Toronto would go to Matt Dermody in the sixth inning, adding Joe Biagini to the list of pitchers who couldn’t get past five innings against the Bombers. The Yanks have been great this year of getting the pitch count up early in games, which is a great team trait to have heading into the postseason where an exhausted opponent bullpen could mean more wins late in series. Didi recorded a single on the lefty’s second pitch and would end up stealing second on a Starlin Castro strikeout, the Yankees fourth stolen base on the day.

@Yankees Twitter

The smooth-swinging Bird came up to bat and ripped a frozen rope off the right field wall to score Didi to extend the Yankee lead to 4-0. The Blue Jays went back to the bullpen, bringing in Danny Barnes. The righty forced Headley to ground into an inning-ending double play.

David Robertson came in to relieve Tanaka in the eighth and walked the first batter he faced. He would force a 3-6-3 double play with a great stretch for the second out by Greg Bird. Then in classic Robertson fashion, the great reliever would be out of any trouble as quickly he got into it by striking out the next batter he faced, ending the inning.

Dellin Betances would come in to finish off the game in the ninth. His second pitch was taken on one hop off the right field wall, and then a passed ball by catcher Austin Romine would put Betances in some trouble early. The wild righty walked his next better to bring up Josh Donaldson, and Joe Girardi would bring in Aroldis Chapman to finish off the game.

Chapman would strikeout Donaldson in three pitches. He then forced a ground ball to short, but a wild throw by Castro blew the chance of a double play, but luckily it would careen off the dugout back to Greg Bird, holding the runner at third. The flamethrowing lefty finished off the game with a strikeout of former Yankee Rob Refsnyder. As good as Chapman and the bullpen has looked, it seems that Girardi and company have lost faith with Betances in high leverage situations, something to watch moving forward.

Julie Jacobson AP

Tanaka looked stellar in his last regular season start, dominating with his command and splitter throughout the day. The righty recorded double-digit strikeouts for the fifth time this season, and first since August 27th against Seattle. He also set a career best for strikeouts in a game with 15, surpassing his old high of 14.

Although the Yankees pulled out a win today, they have to hope for an Astros sweep of the Red Sox for any chance of winning the division. The Bombers were in peak form today, firing on all cylinders, near perfect pitching, productive situational hitting, and aggressive baserunning all contributed to the win. Looking towards tomorrow, Jaime Garcia faces off against Marcus Stroman and the Blue Jays as the Yanks look to hope to continue their scorching streak heading into October.

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The scene was set for the
young budding Bomber squad last fall after finishing their season a game away
from a World Series berth. They were the team that arrived a year too early,
and another deep playoff run would be the goal, but then an old friend threw a
wrench in those plans. Derek Jeter put gargantuan slugger Giancarlo Stanton on
the market, and Stanton dictated his transfer with a full no-trade clause. The
Giants and Cardinals among others threw their name into the ring, but who did
he choose? The Yankees and Dodgers, it seemed to be a battle of baseballs
powerhouses, but the Yankees had an advantage over their former neighbors,
payroll flexibility. They were able to use this into an absolute steal of the
reigning NL MVP, and the Yankees were thrust into a world series or bust year.
The season was historic, they set the season home run record without Gary
Sanchez, Didi Gregorius, Greg Bird, and Aaron Judge for most if not all of the
year, but it ended in a bust at the hands of…

The
speculation started during the regular season, even prior to his trade from the
Baltimore Orioles to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Where would Manny Machado go upon
his free agency at the end of the 2018 regular season? And, with that, which
teams would be knocking on his door? No
sooner did the Yankees’ regular season come to a close after their fated ending
in the American League Division Series, the talks of Machado coming to the
Bronx took off as though pushed by a speeding 4 Train behind Yankee Stadium. The
truth of the matter is that the rumors started even prior to Machado’s free
agency being on the horizon -- they started
at the trade deadline.

Yankee fans are left with more questions than answers following Clint Frazier’s injury riddled 2018. Frazier suffered through concussion symptoms throughout his 2018 campaign, which saw him appear in 69 games between the minors and the big leagues. Now, Yankees fans wonder what 2019 will hold for the 24 year-old.

Miguel Andujar’s 2018
arrival in the big leagues on April 1st had been much anticipated by Yankee
fans and we were rewarded with a Rookie of the Year performance by one of the
most exciting players in all of Major League Baseball.

Corey Kluber is the difference
maker and impact arm the Yankees need atop their rotation. In 2017 and
2018, Yankee fans wished ace-like status on Luis Severino, but his
inconsistencies have left him just short of owning the name. Kluber, 32,
has been the definition of consistent for the Cleveland Indians, winning 18+
games four out of the last five years and winning 20 games in 2018 for the
first time in his career. Kluber has posted an ERA below 3.50 every season
since 2014, and has struck out at least 220 hitters in the same span. Kluber
keeps getting better, and is not showing any signs of regression. Kluber is an
ace, the ace the Yankees need.

There’s
no easy way to answer this question. Or, rather, there’s no one answer. The
surrounding factors change, creating different situations and, as such,
different fits -- both from a financial and from a team standpoint. A case can
be made to bring back either of these free agents, or both of them, or…
neither. But it’s almost impossible to make a blanket answer that fits in every
possible scenario.

It
felt like a shoe-in. So much so, in fact, that I advocated
for what I thought was the inevitable all the way back in September, before the
BBWAA even announced the nominees for American League Rookie of the Year.

First acquired in a relatively
small-time, 40-man sell-off move around this time last year that sent 1B
Garrett Cooper and LHP Caleb Smith to Miami, Michael King was seen as a young
right hander with promise, but one still years away from making any significant
Major League impact.At the time, the
important part of that trade was the $250,000 international bonus pool money
Miami included, which we all thought was to be used on Shohei Ohtani.Ohtani, obviously, never ended up in the Bronx
and will not pitch at all in 2019 after undergoing offseason Tommy John
Surgery.

Flashback to July 3rd -
the Mariners had just won their eighth consecutive game, putting them 20 games
above .500 and in possession of the third-best record in baseball. Everything
was going right in Seattle, and it surely seemed as if the M’s infamous 17-year
playoff drought would finally come to an end. Just two and a half months later
on September 22nd, the Mariners were eliminated from playoff contention,
following a dreadful summer slump and the concurrent surge of the
division-rival Athletics.

I
cannot count the number of times I tweeted about the Yankees and their problem
with RISP and situational offense over the course of the 2018 season. Of
course, the Yankees won 100 games on the regular season, and that statistic is
nothing to sniff at. They also claimed the single-season home run record. And
that’s great.